The National Association for Ethnic Studies Ethnic Studies Review (ESR) is the journal of the National Association for Ethnic Studies (NAES). ESR is a multi-disciplinary international journal devoted to the study of ethnicity, ethnic groups and their cultures, and inter-group relations. NAES has as its basic purpose the promotion of activities and scholarship in the field of Ethnic Studies. The Association is open to any person or institution and serves as a forum for its members in promoting research, study, and curriculum as well as producing publications of interest in the field. NAES sponsors an annual spring conference. Editorial Board Editor Associate Editors Ron Scapp, College of Mount Saint Vincent David Aliano, College of Mount Saint Vincent Ravi Perry, Mississipi State University Editorial Advisory Board Edna Acosta-Belen Rosanne Kanhai University at Albany, SUNY Western Washington University Jorge A. Bustamante Paul Lauter El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Mexico) Trinity College Duane W. Champagne Robert L. Perry University of California, Los Angeles Eastern Michigan University Laura Coltelli Otis L. Scott University de Pisa (Italy ) California State University, Sacramento Russell Endo Alan Spector University of Colorado Purdue University, Calumet David M. Gradwohl K. Victor Ujimoto Iowa State University University of Guelph (Canada) Maria Herrera-Sobek Jesse Vazquez University of California, Irvine Queens College Evely n Hu-DeHart John C. Walter Brown University University of Washington Vernon Johnson Bernard Young Western Washington University Arizona State University Designed by Eileen Claveloux Ethnic Studies Review (ESR) is published by the National Association for Ethnic Studies for its individual and subscribing libraries and institutions. NAES is a member of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. Copy right©ESR, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 2013. All Rights reserved. Written authorization to photocopy any part of this publication, store in a retrieval sy stem, or transmit by any means must be obtained from NAES. ESR Ethnic Studies Review The Journal of the National Association for Ethnic Studies Volume 34 Issues 1 and 2 Table of Contents Pedagogies of Race: The Politics of Whiteness in an African American Studies Course Regina V. Jones................................................. Social Distances of Whites to Racial or Ethnic Minorities Nina Michalikova and Philip Q. Yang. 21 Identity and the Legislative Decision Making Process: A Case Study of the Maryland State Legislature Nadia Brown ..................................................... 45 The Dear Diane Letters and the Bintel Brief: The Experiences of Chinese and Jewish Immigrant Women in Encountering America Hong Cai......................................................... 69 "For Heart, Patriotism, and National Dignity": The Italian Language Press in New York City and Constructions of Africa, Race, and Civilization Peter G. Vellon . 89 Exchange, Conflict and Coercion: The Ritual Dynamics of the Notting Hill Carnival Past and Present Jennifer Edwards and J. David Knottnerus. 107 "We Are Joined Together Temporarily" The Tragic Mulatto, Fusion Monster in Lee Frost's The Thing with Two Heads Justin Ponder .. 135 The Possibilities of Asian American Citizenship: A Critical Race and Gender Analysis Clare Ching Jen.. 157 Dressed to Cross: Narratives of Resistance and Integration in Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book and Yone Noguchi's The American Diary of a Japanese Girl Ina Christiane Seethaler. 185 Economic Development at the Cost of Indigenous Land Brian Chama .... ... ... .. ... .... .... ... ... ... ... .... .. .. ... 199 Ethnicity and Financial Exclusion: How Fringe Banking has taken hold in Ethnic and Immigrant Neighborhoods Marie-Christine Pauwels . 211 Aesthetic and Social Community: Multicultural Poetry and the Anthologizing of Poems Yi-Hsuan Tso . 221 Ethnic Studies Review 34:1-2 Abstracts Pedagogies of Race: The Politics of Whiteness in an African American Studies Course Regina V. Jones Indiana University Northwest This paper evaluates students' arguments for a color-blind society to avoid discussions related to the continued existence of racism in USA culture. Relatedly, this writer finds that as an black woman her status as facilitator in the classroom is directly challenged, on occasion, and that race and gender play a primary role in students' perception of classroom material and how she is perceived. Classroom discussions related to historical texts reveal that structures of domination have slanted perception of black and white people in U.S. culture. Finally, a key to open dialogue about race and racism, primarily for white students, is to explain and demonstrate the invisibility of whiteness or white privilege in American society. Social Distances of Whites to Racial or Ethnic Minorities Nina Michalikova Texas Woman's University And Philip Q. Yang Texas Woman's University Prior research on social distance between racial or ethnic groups in the United States has focused mainly on attitudes of white Americans toward African Americans. Extending previous research, this study analyzes social distances of whites to racial or ethnic minority groups by investigating how whites feel about blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. The main hypothesis is that whites feel coolest toward blacks, warmest toward Asians, and somewhat in between toward Hispanics. The 2002 General Social Survey and ordinary least squares regression are used to test the hypothesis. The results indicate that contrary to our hypothesis, whites feel coolest toward Asians, warmest toward Hispanics, and somewhat in between toward blacks. Nativity, religious similarity/ dissimilarity, racial hierarchy and tension, proximity of the country of origin, and group diversity may offer plausible explanations for the unexpected result. This study also examines which types of whites are more likely to maintain a greater or smaller social distance with the three minority groups. Implications of the findings for race and ethnic relations today are addressed. Key words: Social distance, whites, minorities, blacks, Hispanics, Asians Identity and the Legislative Decision Making Process: A Case Study of the Maryland State Legislature Nadia Brown St. Louis University Both politicians and the mass public believe that identity influences political behavior yet, political scientists have failed to fully detail how identity is salient for all political actors not just minorities and women legislators. To what extent do racial, gendered, and race/gendered identities affectthe legislation decision process? To test this proposition, I examine how race and gender based identities shape the legislative decisions of Black women in comparison to White men, White women, and Black men. I find that Black men and women legislators interviewed believe that racial identity is relevant in their decision making processes, while White men and women members of the Maryland state legislature had difficulty deciding whether their identities mattered and had even more trouble articulating how or why they did. African American women legislators in Maryland articulate or describe an intersectional identity as a meaningful and significant component of their work as representatives. More specifically, Black women legislators use their identity to interpret legislation differently due to their race/gender identities. The Dear Diane Letters and the Bintel Brief: The Experiences of Chinese and Jewish Immigrant Women in Encountering America Hong Cai University of Kansas This paper employs assimilation theory to examine the experiences of Chinese and Jewish immigrant women at similar stages of their encounters with America. By focusing on the letters in Dear Diane: Letters from Our Daughters (1983), and Dear Diane: Questions and Answers fo r Asian American Women (1983), and earlier in the century, the letters translated and printed in A Bintel Brief Sixty Years of Letters from the Lower East Side to the Jewish Daily Forward (1971), this paper compares and contrasts the experiences of Chinese and Jewish women in America. It concludes that, though they have their own unique characteristics, both Chinese and Jewish women shared many common experiences, such as mother-daughter conflict and identity crisis, and both of them faced a difficult challenge in assimilating into American life. "For Heart, Patriotism, and National Dignity": The Italian Language Press in New York City and Constructions of Africa, Race, and Civilization Peter G. VeHon Queens College, The City University of New York "For Heart, Patriotism, and National Dignity": The Italian Language Press in New York City and Constructions of Africa, Race, and Civilization" examines how mainstream and radical newspapers employed Africa as a trope for savage behavior by analyzing their discussion of wage slavery, imperialism, lynching, and colonialism, in particular Italian imperialist ventures into northern Africa in the 1890s and Libya in 1911-1912. The Italian language press constructed Africa as a sinister, dark, continent, representing the lowest rung of the racial hierarchy. In expressing moral outrage over American violence and discrimination against Italians, the press utilized this image of Africa to emphatically convey its shock and disgust. In particular, Italian prominenti newspapers capitalized on this racial imagery to construct a narrative of Italianness and Italian superiority in order to combat unflattering depictions of Italian immigrants arriving